Vanderbilt's Wade Baldwin (4) drives to the basket while guarded by Wichita State's Ron Baker (31) during the NCAA Tournament First Four at Dayton Arena on March 15, 2016. Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Vanderbilt guard Wade Baldwin (4) battles with Tennessee guard Devon Baulkman (34) for a loose ball in the second round of the SEC Tournament on March 10, 2016 at Bridgestone Arena. George Walker IV / The Tennessean

By the time 16-year-old Wade Baldwin IV was challenged to beat full-fledged FBI agents in a five-mile obstacle course at a training academy, he had learned to properly channel his anger.

And when he beat the agents — all of them — about an hour later, he proved his chip-on-the-shoulder attitude could produce winning results.

Three years later, Vanderbilt basketball is now relying on Baldwin, a hard-nosed sophomore point guard and the son of an FBI and a DEA agent, to guide the Commodores back among the SEC’s elite.

And he certainly has his own style of doing that.

“Different people have different leadership roles on our team. I am the challenger,” Baldwin said. “I don’t think we have another person on this team that can challenge another player better than I can.”

Baldwin certainly speaks his mind when we wants to win so badly. Sometimes that means calling out a teammate. At least once his excitement resulted in an on-court clash with his coach on national TV. And in less-visible situations, Baldwin has sometimes gone overboard in tossing a video game controller across a dorm room, an occurrence that still makes laid-back roommate Matthew Fisher-Davis chuckle.

“I can be a sore loser. I hate losing,” Baldwin said. “I need to come out victorious in every situation. How I cope with that is being a very passionate, very directing, very demanding person.”

Baldwin admits his aggressive approach has been for better and worse, a distinction he’s learned the past few years.

On the good side, Vanderbilt’s rally past Stony Brook a month ago was started when Baldwin called out slumping star player Damian Jones during a team huddle: “Damian, you’re the best player on the floor. You need to start acting like it!”

Jones responded with a flurry of key plays, and the Commodores won 79-72 in overtime.

“You got to listen to your teammates,” said an appreciative Jones after the game.

But when Vanderbilt pulled out an emotional comeback win at rival Tennessee last season, Baldwin clapped gleefully at a Vols player at the final horn in what at least one UT staff member thought was taunting.

Seconds later, Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings unleashed a profanity-laced tirade at Baldwin on the court that was picked up by ESPN cameras and grabbed more national headlines than the win.

Baldwin shook it off and after the game tweeted, “We are both fiery people and that’s why I chose Vandy.”

Stallings spent much of the remainder of that regular season apologizing for the incident and for letting his emotions get the best of him. That humility made the biggest impact on his impressionable, passionate point guard.

“(Stallings) is right 99.999 percent of the time, and he has the body of work to back that up. But he can admit when he is wrong,” Baldwin said. “When that .001 has come, he has apologized in such a professional way. We are both fiery people, but he has definitely aided me in becoming a better leader.”

Stallings grins widely when compared to the point guard he often had to reel in as a freshman last season. He knows Baldwin’s impact on the team has turned the corner this year.

“It’s so important for me and for (Baldwin) that I keep him channeled in the right direction,” Stallings said. “Nobody on our team brings more positive playing leadership than Wade does.”

Parental guidance

Baldwin has earned the right to speak his mind at Vanderbilt. He broke the program’s freshman assist record (155) last season, and he leads the team in scoring (14.6 ppg) this season.

Baldwin, a well-rounded 6-foot-3 point guard, already has drawn attention of NBA scouts. But long before reaching that level, he had to be taken down a few notches by his parents.

His mother, Monica, is a 27-year veteran of the FBI. She has worked in everything from counter-terrorism and cyber crimes to health care fraud, and she currently serves as supervisor for international training at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va.

She opted for grounding Wade when she said he “wore his emotions on his sleeve,” but she limited her scope to “behavior in the household” and left the on-court tutelage to his dad.

Baldwin’s father, Wade III, retired from the DEA after a 27-year career in New York, Baltimore and the Bahamas. He worked undercover, compiled cases on drug offenses, directed surveillance and served as a supervisor.

Wade’s dad developed his son’s basketball skills at a rigid pace. He once tied down Wade’s right hand for two weeks as an 8-year-old to force him to dribble with his left.

“We had a lot of arguments,” his dad said. “He fought me and cried, but I knew he would thank me later for doing it.”

His father also once set a deadline for Wade, as a seventh-grader, to be able to do 50 consecutive pushups, a feat which he failed to reach on the first try and got an earful about his lack of preparation.

“I love that story,” the younger Wade said. “I hated it then. I love it now.”

It’s no surprise that Baldwin sees a mixture of his parents’ best traits in his budding basketball career.

“When my mom gets angry, she can control it. As I’ve grown older, I’ve learned to have contained anger like her,” Baldwin said. “And as I move forward as an athlete, student and person, I have learned from my dad to have the proper preparation before going into anything.

“Both of my parents had stern approaches in their own way. That’s molded me into a leader that can challenge teammates. It’s positive but demanding. And it’s not to deteriorate their confidence, it’s only to boost it.”

Reach Adam Sparks at 615-259-8010 and on Twitter @AdamSparks.

WADE BALDWIN FILE

Notable ex-teammates: Baldwin played with No. 1 draft pick Karl-Anthony Towns, a Minnesota Timberwolves rookie, at Saint Joseph High School in Metuchen, N.J. And Baldwin played with Towns and current Kentucky player Isaiah Briscoe on a team in middle school.

Record book: Baldwin broke Vanderbilt’s freshman record with 155 assists last season. His 50 steals were the second-most by a Commodores player in the past 13 years.

Law & Order parents: His mother, Monica, is a 27-year veteran of the FBI. His father, Wade III, is retired after a 27-year career in the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Not a captain: Despite being an obvious team leader, Baldwin was actually not voted a team captain. That title belongs to juniors Luke Kornet and Nolan Cressler and sophomore Riley LaChance. “That’s the three that I voted for,” Baldwin said. “We all have different leadership roles.”

What’s in a name?: Wade Baldwin IV takes pride in carrying his father’s family name. His jersey bears No. 4, and his Twitter handle is @The_Fourth_Wade.